Best way to climb a hill ..sitting down or standing up ?

[Giulianna23]

I am wondering which one is the best way or technique?. I do it sitting down but just wondering if there is any difference, pros - cons.


I should add which one do you preffer

[Veronica]

Try it standing up - just to see what happens.

You'll probably want to use a harder gear than you would sitting. Don't try it on too long of a hill or a really steep hill.


Veronica

[indysteel]

There is no one right or wrong way to climb a hill. If you get to the top, you've succeeded.

Climbing out of the saddle will work different muscles. That can be beneficial if your other muscles need a break. It can also be effective when you need a short burst of power or speed Sometimes, if you've otherwise run out of gears and the climb steepens, you may have no choice but to get out of the saddle. I often get out of my saddle on short climbs because it's kind of fun to power up something like that.

Some people--and a lot of women from what I've gathered from past threads--really prefer to do seated climbs. That's perfectly fine. Past discussions on TE suggest that some bikes have better geometry for out of the saddle climbing. Regardless of what you prefer, I think it's good to get comfortable with both if your body and bike allow. It's just another tool to have in your tool chest for tackling whatever the road throws your way.

[Giulianna23]

Try it standing up - just to see what happens.

You'll probably want to use a harder gear than you would sitting. Don't try it on too long of a hill or a really steep hill.


Veronica

I do it at times but for some reason I feel the bike a lot heavier than when I am sitting. :(

[indysteel]

The bike's not heavier; you are. Well, not literally, but if you're seated, the bike is supporting your weight. When you stand, you're supporting your own weight.

[Catrin]

I am wondering which one is the best way or technique?. I do it sitting down but just wondering if there is any difference, pros - cons.


I should add which one do you preffer

Seated. Always :) I just shift down to an easier gear and keep spinning. I don't think there is a "best" way to climb a hill, just find the way that you like the best. The important thing is to get up the hill ;)

[Giulianna23]

The bike's not heavier; you are. Well, not literally, but if you're seated, the bike is supporting your weight. When you stand, you're supporting your own weight.

:D yes that's what I thought....I try to alternate both but I do feel more comfortable seated in low gear spinning all the way up.

[Slowspoke]

I climb with my heart pounding and my mouth gaping open like a fish out of water! Oh yeah, and usually sitting down. When I run out of grears, I stand but it is hard for me to transition at that point.

[jobob]

If you're watching the tour, notice how on many climbs, riders try to get away from Wiggins by standing and accelerating.

And Wiggins eventually catches up to them by keeping a good tempo while sitting, rarely standing out of the saddle. Seems to work well for him!

[maillotpois]

If you're watching the tour, notice how on many climbs, riders try to get away from Wiggins by standing and accelerating.

And Wiggins eventually catches up to them by keeping a good tempo while sitting, rarely standing out of the saddle. Seems to work well for him!

Yeah - I was noticing that: does he ever stand? Obviously standing works well for some, Armstrong, Contador, etc.

I do a bit of both, mostly to use different muscles and give the butt a break. It also helps to get you over smaller rollers, etc., without shifting down.

[indysteel]

I find myself climbing out of the saddle now with my compact crank than I ever did with my triple. With short rises, I sometimes just don't feel like shifting into my small ring. I'm lazy. Plus, I think I've gotten better at it over time. I really like rocking the bike underneath me and using a lot of power on the upstroke. It's fun. Maybe not always efficient, but fun. Still, if the hill is pretty steep, I typically stay seated because I struggle to transition between seated and standing climbs when the road on steep pitches.

[jobob]

Yeah - I was noticing that: does he ever stand? Obviously standing works well for some, Armstrong, Contador, etc.

Once in a while. For instance, during today's stage he stood for a brief amount of time near the summit of the final climb because he needed to accelerate a bit. But he hasn't relied on that. Now, that could be because he hasn't really needed to ... but I was noticing this in the earlier climbing stages as well, when Cadel was trying to get some time on him. Cadel would put in a strenuous attack and get a bit of a lead, but eventually Wiggins would show up, patiently spinning along at a fairly consistent tempo, looking (relatively) relaxed and unperturbed. I was rooting for Cadel, but Wiggins really impressed me with that.

ETA: That said, if he were up against stronger competition in the mountains this year, or had a weaker team, I imagine his climbing style would have needed to be quite different to keep up. He's not a natural climber (a la Armstrong, Contador, A Schleck, and so on) so who knows how he would have fared against them. Or a slightly younger Cadel. Although he's holding his own against Nibali but that may have more to do with Chris Froome.

Sorry for the thread drift :o

[Crankin]

I've always been a spinner. At first, I couldn't even lift myself up to stand, and I really don't know why. I wasn't heavy then, nor particularly weak. About 6-7 years ago, I began to be able to stand on little rises and that is all I ever do. I can stand on a spin bike, but not very well on the trainer. Even when my bike is in a very hard gear on the trainer, I feel wobbly. When I have tried to stand on a real climb, my legs hurt so incredibly bad and i lose speed, and generally feel miserable. I look at the way my DH can power up a climb (although he doesn't always do this), it pisses me off. My son, who raced, was a "climber," too and watching him was like looking at a work of art.
I can climb quite well, compared to most of the people I ride with, so I don't complain. I may try working on the standing more on my bike with the compact, as Indy said, as I can see how being "lazy" to shift might help. But, overall, I am happy that I can get up the climbs I do, i.e. my lovely driveway and street.

[SadieKate]

I do a bit of both, mostly to use different muscles and give the butt a break. It also helps to get you over smaller rollers, etc., without shifting down.Ditto.

I would describe myself as a spinner on the hills, with a faily high cadence, but I look for opportunities to stand.

[Wahine]

I do a lot of sustained climbing and long rides. I try to sit a lot but then make a point of standing periodically, even if I don't have to to take a butt break and to change my posture. But if I'm struggling up a climb I will often count pedal strokes and I'll stand as much as 1 third of the time. Often I'll go up 2 or even 3 gears, stand for 50 pedal strokes then sit down again. It breaks up the climb in my head and allows me to change tempo and deal with fatigue.

[zoom-zoom]

I do a lot of sustained climbing and long rides. I try to sit a lot but then make a point of standing periodically, even if I don't have to to take a butt break and to change my posture. But if I'm struggling up a climb I will often count pedal strokes and I'll stand as much as 1 third of the time. Often I'll go up 2 or even 3 gears, stand for 50 pedal strokes then sit down again. It breaks up the climb in my head and allows me to change tempo and deal with fatigue.

I don't do a lot of sustained climbs, but I will even do this on relatively short ones for a change of pace and to work different muscles. I thought I was the only one who did the counting thing. :o

[Wahine]

I don't do a lot of sustained climbs, but I will even do this on relatively short ones for a change of pace and to work different muscles. I thought I was the only one who did the counting thing. :o

If I am struggling, I walways revert to counting strokes. I do it running and swimming too. I think it helps me not think about how much farther I have to go and to only focus on the next 10 pedal strokes, arm strokes, strides...

[zoom-zoom]

Exactly!

[ShutUpLegs]

I do a lot of sustained climbing and long rides. I try to sit a lot but then make a point of standing periodically, even if I don't have to to take a butt break and to change my posture. But if I'm struggling up a climb I will often count pedal strokes and I'll stand as much as 1 third of the time. Often I'll go up 2 or even 3 gears, stand for 50 pedal strokes then sit down again. It breaks up the climb in my head and allows me to change tempo and deal with fatigue.

Holy crap, I do this too!! Ha..also glad I'm not the only one :)

I think momentum is huge in my decision on sitting vs. standing if it's rolling terrain. When I start the beginning of a steeper hill, I keep it in the same gear as when I was going downhill from the previous hill (or if it's coming from a flat, keep that momentum from the flat part), and then when the road tilts upward, get out of the saddle and start the counting thing (as long as the upcoming hill isn't TOO long). I count, say, 20 pedal strokes (# depends on how long the hill is), then shift a gear down and get back in the saddle and keep crankin. Then I continue to shift down as necessary, but I'm usually at least halfway up the hill by then. It has taken me practice to get this right and not burn out immediately at the bottom of a climb. I have done that many times trying this technique but when you do nail it, you get up the hill faster than you expected and it's fantastic.

With longer sustained climbs, I do as Wahine does..in and out of the saddle, alternating to give my back & butt a break.

[climbergirl]

I'm not a great hill climber by any means, but I, too, do a mix of standing and sitting. I read somewhere that if you stand and you're not super close to the top, that you should keep it to 8 to 10 seconds, then sit and spin, then do it again. I think this has to do with the amount of time it takes for your muscles to recognize lactate buildup or something (12 seconds?) so you're working at your LT but not for long enough to burn out immediately. I count pedal strokes (sometimes half pedal strokes, a number as each foot hits bottom of the stroke)

You know, I have to ask about all the people who say they just "spin up the hill". I get the theory. But there are plenty of hills where I'm in my biggest, lowest gear, and I'm still pushing barely 50 or 60 rpm and "spinning" as a perceive it is simply not even an option. There's one hard hill near my house that I ride pretty regularly - it's oly 140 feet of climb over just under a quarter mile. It feels brutally steep, but I think it works out to only being about 10.6% grade. And there are people around here talking about 26% grade?!?!

[Biciclista]

funny question. a lot of us do both. It really does feel good to power up a hill. but if the hill is a little too long and you run out of steam, you plunk right back down into that saddle
and spin the rest of the way up.

the fitter i am, the easier standing is.

[Crankin]

Maybe I am perpetually unfit?
I just cannot stand. On a steep climb, I doubt I could actually get my azz up off the saddle, and on smaller ones, it just hurts my leg so much, why do it? My speed goes down, too.
My core is strong, so I don't know what is wrong with me. Sometimes, I'd like to power up a small climb, but I'd be left in the dust, just going slower and slower.
I get the predicament about just "spinning" up a steep climb. On the 10-20% grades I've done, or the sustained 6-8% 10 mile climb I did in Spain, I just sat and spun away. At 3 -5 mph. My cadence was probably 50-60. It's still spinning to me.
However, I felt OK, I made it up, and I didn't walk. I guess I don't care about speed on these types of climbs, just getting up the hill.

[Biciclista]

CRankin,
it COULD be your bike. I remember when I switched from Bike A to Bike B (I don't remember which now) I was stunned that suddenly it was EASY to stand up!!
and if you are doing 20% grades, you are NOT puny. I am not doing 20% grades. or even 15%.. maybe 11 or 12 sometimes. for a few feet... eeek.

[Eden]

CRankin,
it COULD be your bike. I remember when I switched from Bike A to Bike B (I don't remember which now) I was stunned that suddenly it was EASY to stand up!!
and if you are doing 20% grades, you are NOT puny. I am not doing 20% grades. or even 15%.. maybe 11 or 12 sometimes. for a few feet... eeek.

I'll second that it could be your bike. I've had several bikes that it was near to impossible for me to stand on a climb on, mainly because of the way my weight was distributed. In any case even on a bike that fits me I'm more of a sitting climber. I'll stand to power up short, steep hill or once in a while to stretch out my butt muscles on a long one, but for the most part I'm a seated climber.

[Crankin]

Well, I've been like this ever since I started riding, through 4 road bikes. In fact, the first few times I went to a spin class, I couldn't even stand up there. Now, I could stand all day on a spin bike, although I don't spin much anymore.
I can stand when my bike is on the trainer. Perhaps this has to do with my lack of balance. I always feel like I am going to fall over/crash when I stand. Both of my bikes have been fitted, one is custom and the other went through the laser/computer fitting. The custom bike has a more relaxed geometry, but both are very light weight (14.7 and 16 lbs. without the bags, rack, etc).
I've only done very very short stretches of anything over 15% grades, mostly in Austria and the Berkshires. The 10 mile (17K) climb i did in Spain just about made me puke, but I did it; it was a cat 2 climb on the Vuelta and the markings were all over the road. I just would like to be able to power up a hill for awhile, like my DH does.

[Biciclista]

hmm sounds like a fear issue to me. imho!

[Crankin]

At first, it was. Now, it just feels like I have no strength in my usually strong legs and awkward, hence the feeling I'm going to crash.
But, you're right, Mimi. I am no slouch when it comes to climbing; in fact there have been several times on group rides where the guys (OK, older guys) ask me what kind of training I did to be able to spin up a hill at such a high cadence. The answer is always the same. No training, it seemed like the natural thing for me to do.
I just wish I could stand with as much ease.

[Biciclista]

you sound pretty strong indeed.

[tealtreak]

At first, it was. Now, it just feels like I have no strength in my usually strong legs and awkward, hence the feeling I'm going to crash.
But, you're right, Mimi. I am no slouch when it comes to climbing; in fact there have been several times on group rides where the guys (OK, older guys) ask me what kind of training I did to be able to spin up a hill at such a high cadence. The answer is always the same. No training, it seemed like the natural thing for me to do.
I just wish I could stand with as much ease.

Have you ever tried the "rowing" technique? I learned it at a Mt bike clinic for long climbs but now I use on the road. You slightly pull up on the handlebar in cadence with your pedaling, also not a full upright stand but off the seat about half way .....It sounds like you are way strong and experienced- so maybe it is just a matter of experimenting.......

[Nina68]

I agree with you.

[Dogmama]

Like Wahine, I'll stand to break up the muscular fatigue. When I stand, I always shift into a harder gear. When I sit, I shift back into the easier gear.

Type of bike is important. On my road bike, I'm comfortable both ways. On my hybrid, standing is just uncomfortable.